Remembering Alberto De Mendoza

Alberto Manuel Rodriguez Gallego Gonzáles de Mendoza was born on January 21, 1923 in Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentin. When his Spanish parents left him an orphan at age 5, little Alberto de Mendoza "was sent to live" in Madrid, where he fell in love with acting at the Arguelles Cinema and in the theater, particularly when sneaking in to see the operettas known as "zarzuelas" at the Teatro Lara. He became one of the heartthrobs of Spanish movies and the leading man in close to 200 films co-starring with such actresses as Carmen Sevilla and Sara Montiel. He starred in such films as "Filomena Marturano" (1950) and "Zorrita Martinez" and "Una Abuelita de antes de la Guerra" (both 1975), “Tapas” (2005). Among his films were three Euro-westerns: “A Bullet for Sandoval”, “The Forgotten Pistolero” and “When Satan Grips the Colt” all made in 1969.   Member No. 136 of AISGE - an organization that in 2009 awarded him its Actua Prize for his lifetime career and in his final role in 2010 in Buenos Aires he made another big hit as the macho grandpa in "La Mala Verdad" (The Evil Truth), a Miguel Angel Roca film that at the last Malaga Festival in southern Spain won him the prize as Best Ibero-American Actor. Alberto died on December 12, 2011 in Madrid, Spain. Today we remember Albert de Mendoza on what would have been his 90^th birthday.